Shawls to Excess?

Can one person own too many shawls? Especially when they are handspun and hand knit with a beautiful Fiber Optic gradient. I do believe I am testing this hypothesis firsthand. My Reef Shawl is finished and off the blocking boards, fiber was spun using the Reef gradient that happened to be the first Fiber Optic gradient one that I purchased.

I know that this post will generate lots of offers to take these shawls off my hands. Not happening people, too much time involved.

I was reluctant to spin this for 2 reasons, at first I thought the colors to bright for me, and second, I didn’t want to ruin the fiber. It seems I should have had no worries. The colors are gorgeous, and the fiber is wonderful.

I chose the pattern, Poppy Shawl from Brooke Nico’s new book Lovely Knitted Lace, as I wanted to maximize the use of the yarn, and I often find that triangular shawls do not sit well on my shoulders. The unique shape of this shawl is intriguing, 3 triangles separated by a thin rectangle that sits on the shoulders. Sort of a simplified Faroese styling.

The shawl rests naturally on the shoulders. Love the Nupps in the long, thin rectangular panels.

Using this mannequin helps me to see what the shawl looks like on the backside while being worn. I changed the bottom edging, the pattern called for simply finishing a repeat and binding off. Preferring a more detailed bottom edge, and wanting to maximize the use of all my yarn, I improvised a variation of the pattern for the end of the shawl, and bound off with the stretchy bind-off.

I will wear it today, although it will have to be as a shawl scarf, as it is rather cool outside.

As long as you are somewhat consistent in your spinning, you should have no worries. I find it easier to ply 2 braids together than split one evenly down the middle. Having a bit of the braid not match up is actually an advantage, as it gives some transition to the final braid. If you are plying and not happy with how they are matching up, you can break the one that is ahead in color and pull out some of the singles. I have only had to do that once. Kimber’s colors are so amazing, you need not worry. Warning however, they are also very addictive!

I’m having trouble understanding the pattern, I hope you can help!! After you do the first round of charts 3 and 4, there’s 131 sts. For the chart 3 section there are 27 sts, but when you start row 1 again the stitch numbers don’t add up. Did you do k4, to, k1, then repeat the red section twice, ssk, yo?